Children's clothing store shuts at Westgate Centre

Swedish lifestyle brand Newbie opened in a pop-up store at the shopping centre last year before moving to a permanent location in South Arcade next to Loake shoe shop.

But it appears the chain, which has three stores in London, including one in Richmond, could not make the business pay at Westgate Oxford.

When it opened in the ground-floor unit the chain said: “Newbie is a Swedish lifestyle brand for the little ones we love.

“Everything we do is with an ambition to create sustainable and responsible future.

“All our cotton is organic and made from sustainable materials, produced with love for the people and the planet.”

Customers were turning up at the store yesterday to find it had closed.

One woman who works for the city council said: “It’s a real shame it has closed.

“They had some lovely clothes in there - it was all cotton.”

A member of staff at Burrows & Hare men’s grooming store opposite, said: “They have only been here since about November, so that’s not very long.

“Then for the past week they have been packing up - I guess they have decided to trade only in London in the UK.”

The closure follows last week’s departure from the Westgate Centre of high-end fashion store LK Bennett.

Notices have been posted in the window of the unit on the lower floor of the centre, advising customers to go to Bicester instead.

The shop, a favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge, was one of the first to close since the centre reopened in October 2017.

Last month the retailer announced it was shutting over a third of its UK shops after it was bought by a new owner.

A short distance away from the Newbie unit is the entrance to Westgate Social where earlier this month Lebanese grill Shawa closed its doors.

It was the third restaurant to shut in the underground food hall, following Indian-inspired food stall Rola Wala which left a year ago, and chip shop Salt ‘n’ Sauce, which quit earlier this year.

A Westgate Centre spokeswoman said: “Newbie opened in November, and closed this month. Newbie was a temporary lease that has ended. We have a number of potential retailers interested in this and other Ground Level units.”

Newbie has not yet commented.